The current version of Iron (27.0.1500.0) ignores the Windows Hosts file.

I have several sites I administer and have entries in my HOSTS file like "39qt" and "rhph", which translate to the relevant IP addresses. When I type these into the address bar, even with http:// prefix, the hosts file is ignored and I end up with a Google search on the address instead.

This happens with Chrome too, but other Webkit browsers such as Opera 15 and Safari handle the addresses correctly and resolve them to the relevant IP addresses. Opera 15 and Safari correctly resolve the addresses even if typed as is, without the http:// prefix.

Ok, so nobody seems to care about this, but since it doesn't act on what is typed into the address bar, it is unusable for me.

I thought a URL was a Uniform Resource Locator, which should be an unambiguous pointer to a document? Which begs the question, why does Iron ignore them? If I type http://39qt:8000/ into the address bar, and have an entry

[IP Address] 39qt

in my hosts file, why does Iron fail to resolve it correctly? All the required information is there, but Iron ignores it and searches for "39qt:8000" instead. That behaviour is WRONG.